Prepping the Swing Set

You probably remember I bought a used Rainbow swing set off Craigslist a few weeks back. Read about that experience here and check out this post to see how I was regretting it the next day. Well never fear, it’s all going to work out in the end. I never intended to put the thing back together the same way it had been before. I was more interested in using the parts separately. Well I am getting closer to a plan. A little closer. Never fear, I’ll have it all built just in time for winter. 🙁

So far we’ve cleaned the heck out of that thing. Here’s Smart Jr. learning to use the power washer. We have this cheap model, but it gets the job done. Notice she’s wearing my Crocs, thankfully her feet aren’t that big. Yet. And of course safety glasses. I learned that lesson the hard way.

Here’s an example of the difference the power washer made.

This is what the spiral slide looked like when we got it home. Eeew!

First thing I did was remove the rotted/bug eaten bottom support. I will build a new one rather than try to salvage this. I’ll use pressure treated lumber in 4’x4′ and 2’x4′ sizes. This 4’x6′ is overkill. And redwood clearly is not a great choice for ground contact.

I did 90% of the washing, but hubby couldn’t resist lending a hand by cleaning the INSIDE of the spiral slide that I couldn’t reach. Can you see his feet at the bottom? I almost peed my pants laughing so hard.

Even after pressure washing the ladders and monkey bars, the yellow material was still all gross and moldy looking. I gave them a good spray with Scrubbing Bubbles, which obviously got off some gook {how gross is that picture?} but alas, more gook remains. I may try spray painting those surfaces later.

So the picture above is one of two ladders that originally supported the platform of the Rainbow swing set. The end in the picture above was attached to the platform. This is what the other end, the one that was in the ground, looked like. Eeeew.

So what’s a girl to do? Well, I took off the 3 support pieces you see above and then I used the disgusting base of the spiral slide, turned upside down, as a stand for the ladder. And then I cut that nasty rotted part right off of there.

And now for the truly gross part… Wait for it… As soon as I put the first cut in this piece of wood, ants started running for their lives! Lots of ANTS. Carrying their eggs. Screaming. Not the ants. But Smart Jr. It was definitely gross.

Even after I cut the end off, the ants were still coming out like crazy.

So I did what any smart girl would do, I power washed those buggers to smithereens. Sorry to you ant lovers out there, but I honestly had a good time sticking the power washer wand in that big hole and watching the ants squirt out various other holes. I spent a good long time spraying water in different holes trying to guess where it would squirt out. Good fun!

And that my friends is where the progress stalls. I still need to stain and seal the wood before even thinking about putting the old pieces back together. And I need to work out my design plan too. I’ll keep you posted!

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Comments

Oh, man! That sure is a lot of work, Liz. The pressure washer made a huge difference. Too bad better wood was not used when this swing set was first constructed. Boo!

Yeah, I was eying your outfit. lol Too funny they are called Smartwool. I thought you made that up. 😉 You should see my work outfits. I think my neighbors think I only have paint splattered clothes. lol

Did you end up painting the yellow rungs on the ladder. I have the same swing set and the yellow rungs are so warn and have stain drippings on them. I am wondering the best kind of paint to paint them with.

Nope. I just cleaned them as best I could and left it like that. We used these pieces out in the woods, so they’re really only seen by the kids. It would have made me crazy if they were in my yard looking like that. Good luck!